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New
York, NY (May 6, 2008) The wildly
popular "Chocolate Rain" and Onion
News Network will be saluted
alongside lesser-known gems like
"Hometown Baghdad," "Wainy Days,"
and "You Suck at Photoshop" at The
Webby Film and Video Awards on June
9th in New York City, organizers
announced today.
In
addition, nearly half a million
votes were cast by people around the
world for their favorite films and
videos in The Webby People's Voice
Awards presented by Nokia. A full
list of both Webby Film and Video
Awards and People's Voice Awards
winners can be found at
http://webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?media_id=97&season=12.
Organizers also announced an initial
list of recipients of Webby Special
Achievement awards, including:
•
Webby Film and Video Person of the
Year: Michel Gondry From his
legendary music videos to his
pioneering work in film, Michel
Gondry's inventive visual style and
storytelling consistently set new
motion picture standards. His latest
film, "Be Kind Rewind," a
celebration of low-budget,
do-it-yourself filmmaking,
introduced "sweding" to the
internet, inspiring filmmakers to
follow his lead in recreating scenes
from their favorite films and
sharing them online. His Rubik's
Cube videos, showing Gondry solving
the puzzle with both his feet and
nose, have become a viral hit of
their own.
•
Webby Film and Video Best Actors:
Tim and Eric Comedy heroes Tim
Heidecker and Eric Wareheim will be
honored for their cult hit
timanderic.com. Poster children for
the kind of weirdness that could
only take off online, their skits
won them a rabid fan base and a
contract with Adult Swim on the
Cartoon Network.
Hailed
as the "Internet's highest honor" by
the New York Times, The Webby Film
and Video Awards are the leading
industry awards honoring original
film and video premiering on the
Internet. The Webby Film & Video
Awards are judged by more than 80
entertainment industry leaders,
including Showtime chief Matt Blank,
20th Century Fox Chairman Jim
Gianopoulos, "Simpsons" creator Matt
Groening, and Harvey Weinstein.
The
winners will be honored at a
star-studded awards ceremony hosted
by "30 Rock" star Judah
Friedlander. In keeping with Webby
tradition, winners will be limited
to five-word acceptance speeches.
Past speeches include Jessica Rose
of "lonelygirl15" ("Being
traditional and saying thanks."),
The Office Webisodes' Angela Kinsey
("Accounting is such a riot."), and
the creators of The Extreme Diet
Coke and Mentos Experiment
("18,000,000 views. Still no
dates.")
"The
Webby Film and Video Awards winners
reflect how the Internet has leveled
the playing field, giving everyone
from major media companies to indie
filmmakers an opportunity to reach
and interact with audiences in an
exciting new way," said David-Michel
Davies. "These films and videos are
shaping the future of
entertainment."
Highlights of the Webby Film and
Video Awards winners include:
•
Multiple winners include: Onion News
Network (5), Hometown Baghdad (3);
My Damn Channel (4), NYTimes.com
(2), PBS' Frontline World (2), and
Revision3 (2).
•
Achieving both critical and popular
consensus, seven films and videos
won both Webby Awards and Webby
People's Voice Awards: 30-Second
Bunnies Theatre: "Brokeback
Mountain" (Animation); Onion News
Network: "American Heroes" (Comedy:
Individual or Short Episode); "Coney
Island: An Uncertain Future"
(Documentary: Individual Episode);
Current TV's "From Russia with Hate"
(Drama: Individual Episode);
Crimeface (Experimental); "You Suck
at Photoshop" (How-To and DIY), and
Onion News Network (Best Writing).
• The
judges and public parted ways in the
ever-popular Viral Video category.
Web phenomenon "Chocolate Rain"
earned the public's top votes, while
"Here Comes another Bubble", a
dotcom bust spoof, was selected by
the judges.
•
Online video continues to be a
breeding ground for comedy
innovation. Notable winners include:
"Wainy Days" by director David Wain
("Wet Hot American Summer")
featuring Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones,
and Jonah Hill; "Tom Green's House
Tonight"; Onion News Network; and
"You Suck at Photoshop". "Wainy
Days" and "You Suck at Photoshop"
both appear on My Damn Channel.
•
"Hometown Baghdad", a web series
about the lives of three young
Iraqis in Baghdad, won three awards
for News & Politics: Series, Public
Service and Activism, and Reality.
•
Other winners range from established
media brands like National
Geographic's "WildCam Africa"
(Events and Live Broadcast) and
Discovery's "Mike's Got Mail"
(Reality), to emerging filmmakers
and networks like "The West Side"
(Best Drama Series), Heavy.com's
"The Big Burly Show" (Sports), and
"Drawn by Pain" (Best Use of
Animation/Motion Graphics).
In
addition to winning a Webby, all
Webby Film and Video winners will
receive a Nokia Nseries multimedia
device. The winners will use the
devices to document their experience
at The Webby Film and Video Awards
in June. The footage will be
featured in "We Shot the Webbys," an
online video campaign to appear
after the awards.
The
Webby Awards also announced winners
today for the 12th Annual Webby
Awards, which honor outstanding
Websites, mobile Websites, and
interactive advertising.
At the
June 10th awards hosted by Saturday
Night Live's Seth Meyers, special
achievement honors will be presented
to:
•
Webby Person of the Year - Colbert
will be honored for the innovative
way he has used the Internet to
interact with fans of The Colbert
Report from Google bombing to make
him the top search result for
"greatest living American" to
challenging the "truthiness" of
Wikipedia. In his presidential
campaign, the "One Million Strong
for Stephen T. Colbert" Facebook
group attracted more than 78 members
per minute in its first week, while
his supporters have raised more than
$250,000 for the education charity
DonorsChoose.org.
•
Webby Artist of the Year In a year
that saw Internet video become a
dominant political force, The Black
Eyed Peas' frontman, songwriter and
producer will.i.am will be
recognized for the songs and
Internet videos he created in
support of U.S. presidential
candidate Barack Obama. The "Yes We
Can" video, featuring Scarlett
Johansson, John Legend, and Herbie
Hancock, has been viewed more than
17 million times since its February
premiere.
will.i.am's record label was also
behind 2007's most downloaded single
Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry".
For a
full list of 12th Annual Webby
Awards winners for Websites, ads,
and mobile sites, visit:
Hailed
as the "Internet's highest honor" by
the New York Times, The Webby Awards
is the leading international award
honoring excellence on the Internet,
including Websites, interactive
advertising, online film and video,
and mobile web sites. Established in
1996, the 12th Annual Webby Awards
received nearly 10,000 entries from
all 50 states and over 60 countries
worldwide. The Webby Awards is
presented by The International
Academy of Digital Arts and
Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of
The Webby Awards include: Adobe; The
Creative Group; Nokia; .ORG; Level
3; Getty Images; The Barbarian
Group; Digital Kitchen; Adweek;
Variety; Wired; IDG; Pequot
Ventures; Brightcove;
PricewaterhouseCoopers;
2advanced.Net; KobeMail and Museum
of the Moving Image.